Wedding Photographer in Perth

I got inspired from story I was told of an upcoming bride’s best friend’s experience and thought I should share this, as in some cases, us “Professional Wedding Photographers” get compared to a family member who has “happy snapped” in the past and has the budget to buy a bigger camera, so they are seen as being able to manage a wedding and provide quality that a professional who shoots weddings each weekend.

You’ve been planning your wedding and you are getting down to the fine details of hiring a professional wedding photographer vs. your uncle with a camera. This is a decision that could potentially save some of your budget for other things, but is this really the right decision to make considering everything that needs to get done? After all, this is your uncle with a camera verses a professional that does this type of photography for a living. Yes it’s your uncle, but he has a single camera, and you need a lot of pictures taken in different settings, lighting, and situations.

To begin with, this is not a fare comparison and the reason is, your uncle is not a professional. Now, I am not saying anything bad about your uncle, I know you love him and he’s part of the family, but that is an even better reason not to use him, and here’s why. Your uncle may feel that he is doing an excellent service for you, but the fact is, he’s doing a disservice and this will not be realised until the wedding starts and after it finishes. You see, a professional wedding photographer has everything that is needed to take professional quality photographs for your wedding. This is what they do and they know what they are doing.

You uncle on the other hand may own a camera and probably knows how to use it, the problem is what if the photos aren’t what you expected? What if the lighting, the setting, and the situations that present themselves aren’t taken advantage of? A professional wedding photographer is trained to handle these events, and they have experience at getting the right shots at the right time. They know when to take pictures of emotion as well as expression. They have been trained to take complete advantage of situations that other people wouldn’t even notice.

Your uncle will do his best, but his best isn’t even close to a professionals’ worst. You see, even if the professional photographer does snap a picture that isn’t a perfect shot they have the tools to take that picture and develop it into something incredible. These tools cost quite a lot of money, and chances are your uncle doesn’t own any of this equipment and software. The other item of concern is, all the time that is required to take good quality photographs. Will you have your uncle miss your wedding so he can try to do the best he can and take pictures of your wedding?

Now comes the worst part and this is not to hurt any ones feelings, but when the wedding is over and your uncle has taken all those pictures but something malfunctioned, and the pictures didn’t come out as planned. Some of the pictures were too dark and others were to light, some of them were blurred, and others were of arms and elbows. He will apologise and it would be heart breaking if you decided to be angry with him. After all, he did his best with the tools he had, but now the wedding is over and the blame will fall somewhere – you or him, or the weather, or the camera.

For what it’s worth, many people have gone down this road only to never travel it again. If you love your uncle, unless he is a professional wedding photographer with his very own studio and all the equipment needed to take professional photographs of your wedding, do not allow him to take the place of a professional wedding photographer. If something goes wrong, and 90% of the time it does, you will be angry at him and this is not the way to spend your wedding day. Take the time to find a professional wedding photographer, and spend your allotted wedding budget to do it. The resulting photographs you will receive will be worth every single cent. They will last for years and you will be able to reflect on this day in a positive manor instead of a negative, wishing you had never enlisted the help of your uncle. Make the right choice and bring in a professional, you will thank yourself for making the right decision.

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I get asked this question all the time “How long do we need for our wedding photo shoot?”

There is no right or wrong answer to this, except depends on what you expect from your wedding album and your wedding photographer. A comfortable amount of time with 2 locations would be 2 hours from the time you leave your wedding ceremony. This way there is no rushing around, but that depends on distance between each location wedding photo shoot. Naturally distance travelled between the wedding ceremony, each location and wedding reception plays a big part in the duration required. The best way to determine the duration is to speak with your wedding photographer and get an idea of what is possible, we all have different ways of covering a wedding day, so this will have a bearing on duration. For instance I may want to get all the formal shots done just after the wedding ceremony and then concentrate on the “emotional wedding photos” all the fun stuff, all the art style wedding photos etc…

This is a sample wedding timing schedule, starting with the Groom and Bride preparation through to Reception Coverage.

In total there is 10.5 hours of wedding photography coverage. It’s nice to get around 1 hour in the first photo shoot location, this way all the formal shots can be done pretty quickly and you can concentrate on the fun and candid photos (if desired). As you can see this wedding schedule I’ve allowed time for travel as well as each location.

It’s important that you have photos of your wedding party, as well as shots of you and your partner in a natural manner (not rushed and pressured for time). Your wedding choice and style will determine how much time you’d spend on the “fundamentals”, and this should be discussed with your wedding photographer. Once planned out, the task is then handed over to your photographer.

It’s imperative to your wedding day, that your photographer is well aware of your time schedule. He/she should be involved in planning your wedding timing schedule with you as he/she will have some ideas for you. Lets not forget that we do this all the time and we would have a good idea of what you are after once a wedding brief has been discussed.

Some couples come to us and state what time they have planned and booked their wedding ceremony and wedding reception and don’t factor in a location photo shoot and travel between each place. This naturally is a bit disappointing for them as they had pictured other things. We can always make things happen, but only if time has been given. A good wedding photographer will have enough experience to judge the distance between each location, failing that you can always use Google Maps or Where Is

One thing to note, is that your wedding photographer is the only person who will be involved with you start to finish (or nearly finish depending on wedding photo coverage), all other suppliers are only with you for a part of your wedding day. We are involved in your wedding day fully, and in most cases we are looked to for support and direction as we are the most experienced party at your wedding, not to mention that our photos will tell the story from your wedding day.

For wedding photography and planning please feel free to email me with your queries and I’d be more than happy to help out.